Another week of school has come and gone, full of strange happenings. For one: one boy in my class often throws up after lunch. I'm not sure if he just eats too fast or what, but it happens about once or twice a week. On Tuesday (I think. The days all kind of blur together in my brain.) my class was especially hyper in the cafeteria, and I moved boy-who-throws-up to a table by himself so he could calm down a little. Well, while he was there, he threw up. Luckily, no one was sitting around him. So I went into the kitchen to get things to clean it up. While I was in there, another boy laughed at him for throwing up. Now, this boy laughs at everything, but unfortunately, boy-who-throws-up is also extremely extremely sensitive and gets angry at the drop of a hat. (Did I mention I hate cleaning up vomit???) So I come out of the kitchen with my bleach and my paper towels, and kid-who-throws-up has kid-who-laughs in a headlock and is punching him in the stomach. I hustle over to them to break it up, but before I can, kid-who-laughs basically projectile vomits all over the floor from being punched in the stomach. Great. Now I have two piles of vomit to clean up and a class full of angry, hyper kids. The only other people in the cafeteria were the second grade class, and of course they were watching this all go down. After the second kid threw up, one of them asked, "Am I watching a comedy show?" to which I sadly answered, "No. No, you're not." It would have been potentially funny (if you like that sort of thing), but not when you're the one who has to deal with the aftermath. Sooooo not funny.
Another not funny thing that happened was that my class got kicked out of art after 5 minutes for misbehaving, and they got sent back to me. I hadn't even gone to the bathroom or eaten my snack, let alone started to do my work that I needed to do during that half hour that was my only prep time in 3 days. Boy was I mad. I didn't yell, which is good, because I think yelling is generally not effective and a bad idea. So good job to me. I expressed my disappointment calmly without yelling.
Ahhh, but I spoke too soon. Thursday morning before music (which they had also gotten kicked out of the week before!!!!!), I spent about 15 minutes prepping them for how to behave. We practiced walking in quietly and finding a seat and staying there. We practiced how to politely respond if the music teacher says their names wrong. We practiced how to ignore someone who is trying to mess with you instead of punching them. It was almost time to go, and I asked them why it was important to behave in music and art classes when I'm not around. They gave a few answers, and then one boy in the back (who I believe is one of the main culprits of the misbehavior in specials) raised his hand and said kind of glibly, "It's OK, because the art teachers said next week you'd just stay in art with us so we behave."
Well....commence yelling. It was a strange time to yell, because everyone was sitting very quietly and listening nicely. But that made me mad. "NO I'M NOT STAYING IN ART WITH YOU! THAT IS NOT MY JOB. I NEED A BREAK! DO YOU REALIZE I NEVER GET A BREAK FROM YOU? I HAVE WORK TO DO SO THAT I WILL BE READY TO TEACH YOU. YOU NEED TO DO THE RIGHT THING EVEN WHEN I'M NOT AROUND! I'M SORRY I'M YELLING, BUT THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME!" To which kid in the back says (with a twinge of attitude), "I was just saying..."
I apologized again on Friday when we did our class meeting where we compliment each other and apologize to each other and give each other pretzels. And I made it my goal to talk in a calm voice when we were setting behavior goals for the day. Then after lunch I found myself using a very annoyed voice again. So then I pointed out that I was breaking my goal. "YOU NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB LINING UP IN THE CAFETERIA SO WE CAN LEAVE QUICKLY AND CALMLY. AND I'M SORRY I'M YELLING RIGHT NOW. I AM NOT USING A CALM VOICE. BUT I AM UPSET."
All in all, not a banner week for me teaching-wise. But I'm happy to report, they did not get kicked out of music or gym, so that is a start. February will be very busy...Black History Month (the most awkward time to be White. I have to read books that basically bash white people, and then the kids realize, hey Miss Seefeldt, aren't you white?), Groundhog's Day, Valentine's Day, Day 100, and (drum roll, please)...my week-long trip to western PA to recruit summer interns. They don't know yet who is going to substitute in my class. I guess no one has jumped on the opportunity. I wonder why...
Another not funny thing that happened was that my class got kicked out of art after 5 minutes for misbehaving, and they got sent back to me. I hadn't even gone to the bathroom or eaten my snack, let alone started to do my work that I needed to do during that half hour that was my only prep time in 3 days. Boy was I mad. I didn't yell, which is good, because I think yelling is generally not effective and a bad idea. So good job to me. I expressed my disappointment calmly without yelling.
Ahhh, but I spoke too soon. Thursday morning before music (which they had also gotten kicked out of the week before!!!!!), I spent about 15 minutes prepping them for how to behave. We practiced walking in quietly and finding a seat and staying there. We practiced how to politely respond if the music teacher says their names wrong. We practiced how to ignore someone who is trying to mess with you instead of punching them. It was almost time to go, and I asked them why it was important to behave in music and art classes when I'm not around. They gave a few answers, and then one boy in the back (who I believe is one of the main culprits of the misbehavior in specials) raised his hand and said kind of glibly, "It's OK, because the art teachers said next week you'd just stay in art with us so we behave."
Well....commence yelling. It was a strange time to yell, because everyone was sitting very quietly and listening nicely. But that made me mad. "NO I'M NOT STAYING IN ART WITH YOU! THAT IS NOT MY JOB. I NEED A BREAK! DO YOU REALIZE I NEVER GET A BREAK FROM YOU? I HAVE WORK TO DO SO THAT I WILL BE READY TO TEACH YOU. YOU NEED TO DO THE RIGHT THING EVEN WHEN I'M NOT AROUND! I'M SORRY I'M YELLING, BUT THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME!" To which kid in the back says (with a twinge of attitude), "I was just saying..."
I apologized again on Friday when we did our class meeting where we compliment each other and apologize to each other and give each other pretzels. And I made it my goal to talk in a calm voice when we were setting behavior goals for the day. Then after lunch I found myself using a very annoyed voice again. So then I pointed out that I was breaking my goal. "YOU NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB LINING UP IN THE CAFETERIA SO WE CAN LEAVE QUICKLY AND CALMLY. AND I'M SORRY I'M YELLING RIGHT NOW. I AM NOT USING A CALM VOICE. BUT I AM UPSET."
All in all, not a banner week for me teaching-wise. But I'm happy to report, they did not get kicked out of music or gym, so that is a start. February will be very busy...Black History Month (the most awkward time to be White. I have to read books that basically bash white people, and then the kids realize, hey Miss Seefeldt, aren't you white?), Groundhog's Day, Valentine's Day, Day 100, and (drum roll, please)...my week-long trip to western PA to recruit summer interns. They don't know yet who is going to substitute in my class. I guess no one has jumped on the opportunity. I wonder why...
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